The present invention relates to the art of gun or firearm safety. It finds particular application in conjunction with barrel locks or plugs, and will be described with particular reference thereto. However, it is to be appreciated that the present invention is also amenable to other like applications.
Firearm safety is a concern for most gun owners. In general, gun owners desire a way to secure their firearms from unauthorized use and/or accidental discharge. Accordingly, devices have been developed to achieve this goal. However, many of the prior art devices suffer from various drawbacks and/or limitations.
For example, trigger locks have been developed which when properly installed on a gun prevent an unauthorized user from squeezing the gun's trigger. While these trigger locks may prevent a gun's firing mechanism from being intentionally activated, trigger locks generally do not prevent a gun from being loaded. Accordingly, a live round can still be positioned in the firing chamber and a sudden jarring of the gun and/or faulty ammunition can potentially result in the accidental discharge of the weapon.
Another safety device for securing firearms is the so called barrel plug which is designed to wedge in and/or otherwise obstruct the gun's barrel. The previously developed barrel plugs also have drawbacks and/or limitation. Many of the prior art barrel plugs cannot easily and quickly be installed and removed. Others are not sufficiently tamper resistant and/or secure. That is to say, the security of some prior art barrel plugs can be frustrated with relative ease by an unauthorized user, e.g., pulling or pushing or otherwise removing the plug from the barrel. Furthermore, prior art barrel plugs tend to be of limited use insomuch as each only fits one preset caliber or bore size.
While obstructing the barrel, often barrel plugs do not prevent loading of the firearm. This is particularly hazardous when the barrel plug is completely hidden within the barrel. For example, a unsuspecting user, not knowing the barrel plug is installed and not seeing any external evidence of its installation, may load and attempt to fire the gun. Of course, the gun will potentially backfire or otherwise injure the user and/or damage either the firearm or the barrel plug or both.
The present invention contemplates a new and improved gun barrel safety lock with hand ratcheting wrench which overcomes the above-referenced problems and others.